Hacker steals from the super rich

Super rich people commonly transfer large amounts of their money from one
account to another. Using social security numbers and other vital ids he found
on the Internet, a 32-year-old high school dropout is now accused of stealing
millions of dollars from America's richest citizens.

Abraham Abdallah, a convicted swindler, used the Forbes list of 500 wealthiest
Americans to gather information on each person on that list, except Bill
Gates. His scheme was exposed when bank officials became suspicious of a
request to transfer $10 million from a stock holdings account at the Merrill
Lynch securities firm. The money belonged to Thomas Siebel, founder of Siebel
Systems.

Abdallah also breached bank accounts of such people as Spielberg, Martha
Stewart, George Lucas, Oprah Winfrey, Ross Perot, Warren Buffett, Ted Turner
and Michael Bloomberg. The number of victims could top 200.

"He's the best I ever faced," said Detective Michael Fabozzi of the
New York Police Department's Computer Investigation and Technology Unit.
Abdallah used computers at a local library, Web-enabled cell phones and
virtual voice mail. He was able to fool credit reporting companies such as
Equifax into providing credit reports on his rich victims. He then used the
data to gain access to credit cards and accounts at brokerage.

Abdallah has denied any wrongdoing. Police said Abdallah was charged with
credit card and bank fraud when he was 18. His arrests include three here by
the FBI and a fourth in the Virgin Islands for trying to cash a phony $50,000
check. He spent several years in prison.